Tickets for World Cup qualifier against Germany dearest yet for NI fans

Tickets will go on general sale for Northern Ireland's fixture with Germany on October 5 priced from �45 to �60

Published:07:45Monday 01 May 2017

Share this article

Fans can expect to pay up to £60 when tickets go on general sale for Northern Ireland’s World Cup qualifier against holders Germany.

The tickets go on sale on August 31 with adult prices ranging from £45 up to £60. Child tickets will cost £15.

The Irish Football Association confirmed the prices to the News Letter, adding that there would be just over 2,000 tickets available for the general public via Ticketmaster.

It means the game against Germany on October 5 will become the most expensive to date for ‘casual’ Northern Ireland fans at the National Stadium.

Tickets for the other remaining home World Cup qualifying fixture against Czech Republic on September 4 will go on sale on July 24 with adult tickets ranging from £40 to £55.

The IFA said there would be more general sale tickets for the Czech Republic game on sale as it is not a double television production like the Germany game which will be on Sky TV as well as German TV.

The different prices for the adult tickets relate to different areas of the recently redeveloped National Stadium which can now accommodate around 18,000 people.

Tickets for the central blocks of the grandstands (at the halfway line) are the most expensive while tickets for the family stand (at the railway end) represent the cheapest adult tickets.

The price of the tickets for the forthcoming game against Germany is comparable to tickets for the World Cup qualifier between Scotland and England at Hampden Park which range from £42 to £57.

The ticket prices will not affect the majority of fans in the National Stadium who block book their seats. The IFA said there were just under 12,500 fans who pay for a campaign card which entitles them to entry to all five home games during a qualifying campaign.

The most common block booking package costs £150, working out at £30 per game, so big savings can be made by investing in a campaign card.

The IFA said prices had been frozen from the 2014 European Championships qualifiers for all fans renewing their campaign cards.

They also said the price of child tickets had remained the same at £15 throughout the current qualifying campaign.

General sale tickets for previous fixtures had ranged from £30 to £45 (Azerbaijan) and from £35 to £50 (Norway).

At last summer’s European Championships many Northern Ireland fans were able to avail of tickets for €55 (£46) to see their team in action in France.

Service charges will also go up

Since the Azerbaijan game in October ticket prices for Northern Ireland’s qualifiers for those who are not campaign card holders have risen by £5 per game.

However, it must be noted that the opposition in each of those games has also been of an increasing ranking.

A grandstand ticket for Azerbaijan in November cost £45, for Norway in March it was £50, while fixtures against Czech Republic and Germany will cost £55 and £60 respectively.

As prices rise so too do Ticketmaster service charges, at roughly 10%.

Ticketmaster said the service charges are standard charges which are no different from any other event.

A spokesperson said the service charges are Ticketmaster’s primary income stream.